I've been looking for information on how diesel locomotives work--what are the different kinds of trucks, how are they put together? Details of the electrical systems, mechanical systems. Seems like the only way to learn the "nuts and bolts" of locomotive systems is to get hired by a railroad shop. Does anyone know of any publications (even textbooks) that discuss diesel DC and AC systems and subsystems? I own several books on steam locomotive design, construction, and maintenance, but there seems to be a dearth of similar info for diesels.
Locomotive machinery
- Thread starter Hayashi7
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For a basic one;
http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/diesel-locomotive.htm
For more complex and loco specific stuff you probably would need to get something like a shop manual from the manufacturer.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/diesel-locomotive.htm
For more complex and loco specific stuff you probably would need to get something like a shop manual from the manufacturer.
norfolksouthern37
what's a normal map?
oh my. he talked about a 2 stroke engine and showed a P42 moving by. those are 4 stroke engines.
to be fair, they did show the internals of an F59 and it's 710 which is 2 stroke.
/nitpickery
I lurk on the forums at Railroad.net, and in the locomotive forums, there's some great information. Additionally, if you have a basic knowledge of locomotives, http://gelwood.railfan.net/manual/manual.html has a bunch of manuals from various models online. I doubt any of us will learn as much as we will if we were working on diesels every day, but there's some good knowledge that can be picked up by reading.
Nothing wrong with nitpickery Justin, it's pretty much automatic if you know anything about the topic. I'm not a NCIS fan but I watched it last night because the episode was shot on an aircraft carrier, and without trying to I spotted a dozen or so glaring errors that showed they didn't do very much research.
I suspect the main problem you'll run into is that railroading is a combination of several different studies, physics, mechanics, electronics, pneumatics, so rather than going into any of that in depth the discussions will assume you already know the basics. For example a railroad wants an electrical maintenance worker they would hire an electrician or electronics tech and teach him the control circuits, they wouldn't hire a kid out of high school and start with Ohm's Law and basic electricity. Same with mechanical, they wouldn't want to teach basic diesel engine theory when they could just hire a diesel mechanic who would already know most of what he needs to know to work on a locomotive engine. So the best place to start learning would be diesel mechanics and electronics, whether it's a loco or a diesel submarine the principle will be very similar.
I suspect the main problem you'll run into is that railroading is a combination of several different studies, physics, mechanics, electronics, pneumatics, so rather than going into any of that in depth the discussions will assume you already know the basics. For example a railroad wants an electrical maintenance worker they would hire an electrician or electronics tech and teach him the control circuits, they wouldn't hire a kid out of high school and start with Ohm's Law and basic electricity. Same with mechanical, they wouldn't want to teach basic diesel engine theory when they could just hire a diesel mechanic who would already know most of what he needs to know to work on a locomotive engine. So the best place to start learning would be diesel mechanics and electronics, whether it's a loco or a diesel submarine the principle will be very similar.
Actual google search for that phrase doesn't give much, using just "locomotive cyclopedia" does give a bunch of hits;
https://www.google.com/search?q=Loc...ffa5f23ec997be&bpcl=40096503&biw=1280&bih=859
Here's an interesting read for those who have some time to kill;
http://www.maritime.org/fleetsub/elect/index.htm
Aside from the fact that they ran on huge storage batteries underwater, the US fleet submarine operated on the exact same principle, using diesel generators made by Alco or Fairbanks-Morse to generate electricity, and the same traction motors to turn the propeller shafts. Leaving aside the underwater battery controls, the control circuits for running on the surface were the same as a diesel loco.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Loc...ffa5f23ec997be&bpcl=40096503&biw=1280&bih=859
Here's an interesting read for those who have some time to kill;
http://www.maritime.org/fleetsub/elect/index.htm
Aside from the fact that they ran on huge storage batteries underwater, the US fleet submarine operated on the exact same principle, using diesel generators made by Alco or Fairbanks-Morse to generate electricity, and the same traction motors to turn the propeller shafts. Leaving aside the underwater battery controls, the control circuits for running on the surface were the same as a diesel loco.